When the clock struck Noon on Thursday and the deadline to qualify for the county’s primary election next year passed, a total of four candidates had filed paperwork seeking election to a pair of open seats on the Carter County Commission.
Earlier this year, Jerry Proffitt, who was elected in 2014 to represent the 1st District, and Beth Depew, who was elected the same year to represent the 3rd District, had to resign their seats on the Commission.
Those seats will be up for grabs in the county’s 2016 elections, but two appointees currently fill those slots to ensure residents of those two districts maintained equal representation on the county’s governing body.
When a commissioner must vacate their seat, the body’s rules and bylaws grant the group the power to appoint a temporary replacement until the next election period. In May, the Commission appointed Dr. Robert Acuff to represent the 1st District and Bradley Johnson, an investigator with the Carter County Sheriff’s Department, was appointed to represent the 3rd District. Acuff and Johnson will fill those seats until September 1, 2016, at which time the winners of the county’s general election for those seats will take over to fulfill the remainder of the unexpired term until Sept. 1, 2018.
But, before candidates can reach the August general election, a March primary will be held for the Republican and Democratic parties.
Four candidates have filed paperwork and qualified for the Republican primary for the two vacant seats. No candidates filed for a Democratic Primary.
Of the four, three are seeking the 1st District seat and only one filed for the 3rd District seat.
Johnson, who currently serves as the appointee for the 3rd District was the only candidate to qualify for that position, so he will run unopposed on the Republican primary ticket.
Acuff, the current appointee for the 1st District, qualified for the primary and will be joined on the ticket by Robert H. “Bob” Robinson Jr. and Michael D. Warren.
The winners of the primary election will then move on as the Republican nominees for the August general election.
In addition to the two seats on the County Commission, the Carter County Assessor of Property will also be up for election.
Ronnie Taylor, the current Assessor of Property for the county, was the only candidate to qualify for the Republican Primary.
In 2016, voters will head to the polls a total of three times — in March for the Presidential and county primary elections, again in August for the county general election and the state office primary election and then in November for the Presidential election and the state office general election.